PREVIEW: 2022 Subway AUS Women's Soccer Championship

Highly competitive battle expected for AUS women’s soccer supremacy

by Corey LeBlanc

(WOLFVILLE, N.S.) While delicious apples are usually associated with the Annapolis Valley, especially at this time of year, later this week six teams will take the pitch and determine which one is the pick of the crop when they compete for the 2022 Subway Atlantic University Sport (AUS) Women’s Soccer Championship at Acadia University in Wolfville.

The top-two finishers in the conference regular season—the Cape Breton University (CBU) Capers (10-2-0) and Dalhousie Tigers (8-0-4)—collected 30 and 28 points, respectively.

Top Rowe performance

Led by AUS most valuable player Alliyah Rowe (Kitchener, ON)—who notched a conference-best dozen goals and 16 points this season—the Capers boasted the third-best scoring attack with 32 markers. Rebecca Lambke (Antigonish, NS), Paige Allaby (Rothesay, NB) and second-team all-star striker Senate Letsie (Maseru, Lesotho) collected four goals each for CBU.

Grace Hannaford (Enfield, NS)—the AUS rookie of the year and second-team all-star—notched three goals.

First-team all-star goalkeeper Haley Kardas (Halifax, NS) started 11 matches, finishing five of them with a shutout, while first-team all-star defender Fatou Ndiaye (Pierrefonds, QC) led a sound Caper defense.

Stingy Tigers

The sensational tandem of Annabel Gravely (Toronto, ON) and Emily Toth (Markham, ON) have led a stingy Tiger defense that surrendered only three goals in fashioning an undefeated regular season. Gravely collected five shutouts, while Toth finished with four; the pair won four matches apiece.

Defenders Hannah Firstbrook (Nepean, ON) and Paris Axam (Ottawa, ON), first and second-team all-stars, respectively, headline a strong back line for Dalhousie. 

The black-and-gold, under AUS coach of the year Cindy Tye, handed the Capers one of their two losses—a 2-1 come-from-behind victory in New Waterford on October 22.

The trio of Chloe Richardson (Calgary, AB), first-team all-star midfielder Megan Chiasson (Lower Sackville, NS) and second-team all-star striker Elise Evans led the Dalhousie offense with three goals apiece.

The top-seeded Capers are looking for their first conference banner since completing a three-peat in 2019, while the Tigers haven’t won one since 2012.

The Tigers and Capers have the most AUS crowns, with 12 and 11, respectively.

Dalhousie and Acadia both finished with 28 points, with the Tigers securing second spot and a first-round bye on a 1-0 edge in head-to-head action during the regular season.

Rivalry renewed

The first quarter-final match on Wednesday, November 2 at 3 p.m. ADT will feature the rival STFX X-Women (8-3-1) and Saint Mary’s Huskies (5-4-3) in a battle of fourth and fifth seeds, respectively.

The white-and-blue, who dropped the 2021 championship match to the Axewomen, boasted an electrifying offense that scored a league-high 40 goals this season.

Senior forward Amanda Smith (Ottawa, ON)—a first-team all-star striker—finished second in goals (eight) and points (15), while leading the loop with seven assists. Super sophomores Brynn Jurus (Ancaster, ON) and second-team all-star midfielder Caitlin Crichton (Ottawa, ON) each added six markers.

The X-Women defense, which tied for the second-stingiest with the Capers (11 goals allowed), is led by the one-two goalkeeping punch of veteran Christina Gentile (Laval, QC) and sophomore Jordyn Pratt (Calgary, AB), who gave up only one goal in five starts, which resulted in four shutouts and an AUS-best save percentage (.950). Gentile notched three shutouts in seven matches.

Sisters Emma and Abby Steen (Stittsville, ON), first and second-team all-stars, are key contributors to a tough X-Women defense. 

The Huskies will need keeper Grace Morrison (Halifax, NS), who had three regular-season shutouts, to help lead a stout defensive effort against the high-flying X-Women. She will get plenty of help from second-team all-star defender Madlyn Blinn (Lower Sackville, NS).

First-team all-star midfielder Anelise Karakostas (Victoria, BC), with five goals, and Allie Martin (Halifax, NS), with three, led the Saint Mary’s attack.

STFX scored a convincing 6-0 win over Saint Mary’s in the regular season.

The X-Women have won three conference banners—the last coming in 2016—while the Huskies’ program has two titles, but none in two decades (2002).

The STFX-Saint Mary’s winner will face CBU in semi-final action on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 3 p.m. ADT.

Repeat performance?

The back half of the quarter-final doubleheader, on November 2 at 6 p.m., will feature the third-seeded Axewomen (9-2-1)—the host team and defending conference champions—and the sixth-ranked Memorial Sea-Hawks (4-5-3).

Acadia is the hottest squad heading into the playoffs, having won five in a row to wrap up the regular season. With 37 goals, averaging more than three per game, the Axewomen scored the second-most in the conference.

First-team all-star midfielder Grace Longley (Bedford, NS) led the Axewomen with seven goals, as part of an 11-point campaign that placed her third in the regular-season scoring race. Second-team all-star striker Jayden Boudreau (Halifax, NS) and Abbey Aucoin (Dartmouth, NS) tallied six goals apiece, while second-team all-star midfielder Madyson Harris (Wolfville, NS) added five.

Veteran Lauren Jodrey (Hammonds Plains, NS), a first-team all-star, is a standout—once again—on the Acadia defense.

Fifth-year keeper Sydney Walsh (St. John’s, NL)—who started every match in the regular season, while collecting four shutouts—will be a key to helping slow that quality Acadia offense. The second-team all-star led AUS backstops in minutes played (1,080).

Senior winger Kate Hickey (Outer Cove, NL), with three, was the top scorer for a Memorial offense that finished with 14 goals, while Claire Langille (Fall River, NS), who tallied twice, is a first-team all-star striker.

Hickey is also the 2022 Student-Athlete Community Service Award recipient for the conference. 

In their lone regular-season tilt, on September 11, the Axewomen edged the Sea-Hawks 1-0.

Acadia has won seven AUS crowns in program history, while Memorial has one (2014).

The Axewomen-Sea-Hawks winner will face Dalhousie in semi-final action on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. ADT.

Shooting for a banner

The winners of the semi-final matches on Thursday will take the pitch on Saturday, November 5 at 2 p.m. ADT in the AUS championship game.

All five tournament matches (see full schedule here) will be available via webcast live at www.AUStv.ca.

The conference finalists will participate in the 2022 U SPORTS Women’s Soccer Championship from November 10-13, which will be hosted by Université Laval Rouge et Or in Quebec.

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